Has it been 2 weeks already since the last post? Unfortunately I don't have any progress to report, I've been lucky to tread water and hold steady over the holiday!

Source

I've only been out running twice since the last post as well, we've had a cold snap here and it's consistently -25C and over -30 with the windchill, so even I haven't been braving running outside. I have been doing some indoor circuit training up and down the stairs at work on nights though so It's something at least. My weight is actually up 1lb since 2 weeks ago and I was sitting at 186 this am. I have seen no change in my resting heart rate and currently sitting at 61 BPM.

The holidays are though, with all the parties and snacks everywhere, for me work was the worst, there was always mountains of snacks and desserts to eat, but not that's it's over it's time to kick it into high gear, there's only about 8 week remaining and I have some big goals to meet.

My final goals where resting HR under 55, Weight under 180lbs and running pace of 5:30min/km. I'm most worried about the running pace, I seam to have hit a wall at the 6 min/km point. I'm hoping some of the work on the stair cases and other power work will translate well. I know I said it before too, but I also think some more High Intensity Interval Cardio will help me to kick it up a notch.

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I know there were some people waiting till after the holidays to join so I'll give everyone a contest recap

Anyone can still join the challenge at any time. It's more of a personal goal setting to keep yourself motivated. You pledge 3 goals in 3 different categories, Weight Loss, Resting Heart Rate and Exercise. You also pledge an amount of SBD that will keep you motivated. If you reach your goal your money will be returned to you (and maybe more, because if you don't reach your goals you forfeit that amount to the other competitors). There is also a head to head challenge in which the winners that make the biggest improvements will win the remaining pot.

There is additional money added to the pot in the form of these Post payouts committed by @phelimint, and if anyone else wants to send any additional donation it would be greatly appreciated as well.

Currently I am holding a pot of 140SBD (50 pledge from @phelimint, pledge from @dkid14, 10 from @buggedout) +(30SBD added from post payouts) + (There are two other competitors that haven't sent the pledge money to be held yet @carrieallen Pledge 25USD, and @byn pledged 10SBD)

Here's a better break down of the contest metrics.

Percentage Weight Loss

We would just use the total amount lost, divided by starting weight to determine everyone's percentage of loss for comparison.

Resting Heart Rate

I think this is the simplest marker of health and fitness for everyone to use, we would just once again use the percentage of change over the course of the competition.

Running/Exercise Time

I was thinking of lastly using a percentage of improvement to a few standard options for exercise. Like a 5km walk/run (outside/treadmill) or something we decide is equivalent in a swim, bike or any other stationary equipment. Something that takes approx 30 minutes as a baseline. We can use pace or total time to complete or distance covered in 30 minutes or whatever you prefer as long as we keep it consistent for each participant.

The contest ends on 5th of March 2017, so there's still more than enough time to get involved and make some changes, especially since I'm hearing everyone tanked over the holidays anyways!

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